HOUSTON — Having clinched a playoff berth on Friday, the Rays head into the final days of the regular season with a few things still to play for.
Most prominent is their seeding among the three American League wild-card teams, which will determine who and where they play when the best-of-three, one-site wild-card series opens this Friday.
Getting beat 2-1 by the AL-best Astros on Saturday didn’t help their chances to get home, as they fell to 86-72 and three games behind the frontrunning Blue Jays (89-69) with four games left.
Manager Kevin Cash said before the game that playing at home was important, evidenced by their 51-30 record there vs. 35-42 on the road, the largest spread among the wild-card teams. Their chances to host at Tropicana Field could be over as soon as Sunday afternoon.
“Priority is home. That’s a clear No. 1,” he said. “Then the other, I think you look at all those teams, they’re very good teams. Feel like we know Toronto better than the other ones, but we just saw Cleveland — very talented, can pitch. And what Seattle’s done this year, kind of their youth movement and their young pitching, has been outstanding.”
With the second-place Mariners (87-70) also winning Saturday, the Rays are 1 1/2 games behind them, making a trip to Cleveland look the most likely as of now.
Under the new playoff format, the second-place wild-card team plays at the first, while the third faces the third-best division winner, which is the Central champ Guardians.
The Rays also have some individual players to assess, perhaps none more vital than Shane McClanahan.
The lefty ace and All-Star starter has not been sharp much of the second half, making one good outing after returning from a 15-day injured list stay due to a shoulder impingement, then two not so good.
Though his high-end velocity and other analytical numbers were normal, his strikeouts have been down and his command off.
Cash said the command was the greater concern, and McClanahan seemed better Saturday.
He worked five innings against the Astros, allowing two runs, both in the second inning and with two wild pitches involved in the sequences, and five hits total. He walked one and struck out only two, matching his career low from his outing last Sunday. He threw 67 pitches, 45 for strikes.
The Rays hitters couldn’t do much in six innings against Astros starter Cristian Javier, who ran his scoreless streak to 25 1/3 innings, the longest such active streak in the majors. They had two singles off Javier, both by outfielder David Peralta, who reached the 1,000 milestone for his career.
They got a run in the ninth of reliever Ryan Pressly with two walks and a pinch-hit single by Yandy Diaz.
